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Women's vibrant presence in the Italian Renaissance has long been overlooked, with attention focused mainly on the artistic and intellectual achievements of their male counterparts. During this period, however, Italian women excelled especially as writers, and nowhere were they more expressive than in their letters. In A Corresponding Renaissance: Letters Written by Italian Women, 1375-1650 Lisa Kaborycha considers the lives and cultural contributions revealed by these women in their own words, through their correspondence. By turns highly personal, didactic, or devotional, these letters expose the daily realities of women's lives, their feelings, ideas, and reactions to the complex world in which they lived. Through their letters women emerge not merely as bystanders, but as true cultural protagonists in the Italian Renaissance.
A Corresponding Renaissance is divided into eight thematic chapters, featuring fifty-five letters that are newly translated into English-many for the first time ever. Each of the letters is annotated and includes a brief biographical introduction and bibliographic references. The women come from all walks of life -- saints, poets, courtesans and countesses -- and from every geographic area of Italy; chronologically they span the entire Renaissance, with the majority representing the sixteenth century. Approximately one third of the selections are well-known letters, such as those of Catherine of Siena, Veronica Franco, and Isabella d'Este; the rest are lesser known, previously un-translated, or otherwise inaccessible.
Contents
Each chapter ends with Suggestions for Further Reading ; Map of Italy showing cities and towns of origin or destination of letters associated with the correspondents ; Acknowledgements ; About the Editor ; Introduction ; Chapter One: The Active Versus the Contemplative Life ; 1. Caterina Benincasa describes the execution of Niccolo di Toldo to Raymond of Capua ; 2. Brigida Baldinotti praises the women who serve at Florence's S. Maria Nuova hospital ; 3. Cassandra Fedele responds to Alessandra Scala's request for advice on whether to write or marry ; 4. Paula Antonia Negri urges Gaspara Stampa to choose the life of the spirit over the worldly life ; 5. Olympia Fulvia Morata to Caelius Secundus Curio on "giving birth" to her writings ; 6. Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi sends Christmas nativity scene decorations to her niece Maria ; Chapter Two: Humanism and its Discontents ; 7. Maddalena Scrovegni to Jacopo dal Verme in praise of Giangaleazzo Visconti ; 8. Isotta Nogarola asks Guarino Guarini why he has not responded to her letter ; 9. Costanza Varano writes to Isotta Nogarola, praising her learning ; 10. Nicolosa Castellani Sanuti to Cardinal Bessarion challenging sumptuary laws ; 11. Laura Cereta to Agostino Emilio condemning women's excessive luxury in dress ; Chapter Three: Governing the Household/Governing the State ; 12. Margherita Datini criticizes her husband Francesco Datini for his handling of business matters and worries about his health ; 13. Lucrezia Tornabuoni reports her impressions of a prospective bride for their son to husband Pietro de' Medici ; 14. Eleonora D'Aragona complains to husband Ercole d'Este about his soldiers' unbridled violence ; 15. Guglielmina Schianteschi informs her husband Luigi della Stufa of her management of country property and urges him to economize ; 16. Lucrezia Borgia warns her father Pope Alexander VI Borgia to leave Rome ; 17. Maria Salviati tells Giovanni [?] of her determination not to re-marry ; 18. Caterina de' Ricci advises her father Pierfrancesco de' Ricci to resolve a family quarrel ; Chapter Four: Mothers and Children ; 19. Pandolfina Baglioni expresses her desire to see her mother, Pantasilea Salimbene ; 20. Alessandra Macinghi Strozzi to her son Filippo Strozzi on taking precautions against illness and death ; 21. Lucrezia (Nannina) de' Medici confides in her mother Lucrezia Tornabuoni about a marital disagreement ; 22. Caterina Sforza warns her son Ottaviano Riario to maintain secrecy and beware of enemies ; 23. Cassandra Chigi discusses household needs and shopping with her mother Sulpizia Petrucci ; 24. Veronica Franco reproves a woman who wants to train her daughter as a courtesan ; 25. Isabella Andreini congratulates a man on the birth of a daughter ; Chapter Five: Love and Friendship ; 26. Camilla Pisana complains to Francesco del Nero about her lover, Filippo Strozzi ; 27. Maria Savorgnan to Pietro Bembo expressing the depth of her love for him ; 28. Cecilia Liconella expresses her love to Nicolo de Lazara, a noble she met in Padua ; 29. Marietta Corsini describes their newborn son to her husband Niccolo Machiavelli ; 30. Vittoria Colonna explains her silence to Michelangelo Buonarroti ; 31. Ginevra Gozzadini requests marital advice from her spiritual advisor, Leone Bartolini ; 32. Celia Romana describes amusements of Roman Carnival season and expresses distress at her lover's neglect ; 33. Emilia N. Fiorentina returns her lover's letters but asks him to publish his love poems ; 34. Margherita Costa imagines a love letter written by a beautiful woman to a dwarf ; Chapter Six: Literature and Leisure ; 35. Bartolomea degli Obizzi Alberti discusses theories of reading to a female friend ; 36. Ippolita Maria Sforza describes her impressions as a newlywed at the Aragonese court to her mother Bianca Maria Visconti ; 37. Tullia d'Aragona asks Benedetto Varchi's aid in drafting a letter to Duke Cosimo I de' Medici and Duchess Eleonora di Toledo ; 38. Laura Battiferra dedicates her book of poetry to Eleonora di Toledo, Duchess of Florence ; 39. Vittoria Archilei laments her declining singing career and asks the Grand Duchess Christine to assist her son ; 40. Francesca Caccini requests a libretto for her new composition from Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger ; 41. Arcangela Tarabotti thanks friar Giovanni Battista Fusconi for his musical drama ; Chapter Seven Art: Patrons and Painters ; 42. Isabella d'Este proposes a subject for a painting to Leonardo da Vinci ; 43. Veronica Gambara recommends a work of the painter Correggio to Isabella d'Este ; 44. Cornelia Colonello appeals to Michelangelo Buonarroti in a legal dispute with her father ; 45. Margherita Aratori expresses to Costanza Colonna how she misses her ; 46. Sofonisba Anguissola asks Philip II of Spain for a recommendation for her husband ; 47. Lavinia Fontana to Alfonso Ciacon sending a self-portrait that he had requested ; 48. Artemisia Gentileschi discusses costs and terms of payment for her paintings with Don Antonio Ruffo ; Suggestions for further reading ; Chapter Eight: Inquiring minds: Science and Philosophy ; 49. Ceccarella Minutolo to Theophilo on how knowledge is acquired and transmitted ; 50. Chiara Matraini to Maria Cardonia on the superiority of philosophy to military "science" ; 51. Margherita Sarrocchi confirms Galileo's astronomical observations to Guido Bettoli ; 52. Camilla Erculiani Greghetti explains her theory of the interaction of physical elements at the time of the Biblical Flood to Marton Berzeviczy ; 53. Sara Copio Sullam discusses philosophical and theological views on human mortality with Baldassarre Bonifacio ; 54.Virginia Galilei sends for linens and requests a copy of The Assayer from her father Galileo Galilei ; 55. Elena Lucrezia Corner Piscopia asks university director Nicolo Venier to restore her mentor's tenure ; Suggestions for further reading ; Selected Bibliography ; Credits ; Index
